The 46th Academy Awards ceremony is perhaps best remembered as the ceremony in which a streaker named Robert Opel ran across the stage naked while flashing a peace sign with his hand. In response, host David Niven jokingly quipped, "The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings."[2][3] In 2001, this incident was voted[citation needed] as the most memorable Oscar moment in history, coming in first over Marlon Brando's 1972 boycott of the 45th Academy Awards, in which he nominated Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he would not be coming to collect his Oscar for The Godfather.

Jack Lemmon won his second career Oscar that night; his first was for 1955's Mister Roberts. As he accepted the award, he announced that "In recent years, especially, there has been a great deal of criticism about this award. And probably, a great deal of that criticism is very justified; I would just like to say that, whether it is justified or not, I think it is one hell of a honor and I am thrilled, and I thank you all, very, very much."

Katharine Hepburn made her first and only appearance at the ceremony to present The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to her longtime friend Lawrence Weingarten. Whenever she won an Oscar, she always had either the presenter or another person associated with her film accept it on her behalf. Upon taking the stage, she received a standing ovation, to which she replied "I'm living proof that a person can wait forty-one years to be unselfish."

This was Susan Hayward's last public appearance before she died of brain cancer in 1975.

At 10 years, 148 days of age, Tatum O'Neal won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Paper Moon. She became the youngest winner of an Oscar, a feat unmatched to this day.

During the ceremony, the whole in memoriam tribute was for legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn, who had died at age 94, three months prior to the event. He is the only person to have an Academy Awards ceremony dedicated solely to him.

‡ Dates and years listed for each ceremony were the eligibility period of film release in Los Angeles County. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period was done on a seasonal basis, from August to July. For the 6th ceremony, held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932 to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.